Fantasy Dreamer's Ramblings

There is something that's bugged me off and on with book series that uses the main character's name as the book's title. I think doing this is a spoiler. As books are being published, this isn't much of a problem but after several books are out in series, to me, it's giving away plot points in the previous books by just using the characters name. I'm not going to call out the series I've seen this happen with but if any of you have noticed this, you know which ones I'm talking about.

Here are a couple of examples on why I dislike character names as book titles:

• There have been times a character is portrayed as a possible antagonist but the readers aren't sure of the character's loyalties until the end, it's part of the suspense, the story's build up. But if the title of a future book in the series is that character's name, isn't that a dead give away that the character isn't the main bad guy?
  
• Or here's another scenario, a character is in the position of being possibly killed off but then you see the title of a later book in the series is based on that character. So obviously they aren't going to get killed and you know they will survive.

I love the mystery and the suspense in what I read its part of what drives me to read as much as I do but when I see this, I have to wonder why do they do this? What's the reasoning behind it? Does this bother anyone else? Have any of you noticed this also?

Taming the TBR (To Be Read) Pile. Now that's a thought. Well, that's my goal actually since my TBR has grown exponentially since I've started blogging and hanging out on Twitter. When I say TBR, I mean these are books I own, sitting on my bookshelves.

I've never had this huge pile up of books before. And I have all of you to blame for this hardship on my wallet and bookshelves - if they could groan, they would. Yep, talking to you. *eyes everyone* Nearly every week, one of you will post about a great new book that I gave me that itchy-twitchy "gotta have it now" feeling for that book. Again. And again. It a vicious love-hate cycle. Love because I've found a book I want to read, hate because the TBR pile just grew by another book. And you know what? I don't regret not a one of these books.

The TBR situation has lead me to I settling myself down this past weekend and going through my bookshelves including all the little piles of books I had scattered throughout the house. I weeded out the books that I know I will not read for one reason or another and rearranged my books into the read section and the TBR section. Time I was finished I ended up with 170+ books in my TBR. Phew! *wipes brow* From what I've read around the blogosphere that's about average. *looks around anxiously* Right?

Now, I need to come up with a strategy to get this lion of a pile under control. Here's a few ideas:

• I could join a few book challenges. - I probably I wouldn't stick to them, honesty is the best policy here.
• Tough Love: Promise not to buy more books. - Ah, yeah. Sure...
  
• Read the stand alone books first then read the series books back to back. - Stand alone could also be the first book in a new series.
• Or mix the stand alone books in between the series books.

As you can see I'm not a good strategist and need some ideas. So, what you do to keep the old TBR pile in a manageable condition? What does your TBR look like? Or am I asking the impossible here?